


Monkey business

by AngelofDarkness1605



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 06:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8276128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofDarkness1605/pseuds/AngelofDarkness1605
Summary: Rumple Gold is heartbroken when he has to bring the monkey he has taken care of for years to the other side of the world… but then he meets the animal’s new zookeeper.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Inkfire for the wonderful beta work.

Rumple's hands are trembling when he carefully takes the cage from the truck of the rental car. The Australian sun burns down on him, sending yet more droplets of salty water sliding down his body and staining his Storybrooke Zoo uniform.

"It's gonna be all right, Bae," he mutters to the restless monkey in the cage, fearing that both of them know it isn't true.

Making certain that he locks the car and the hold of his slippery hand on the cage is firm enough, Rumple has to rest his cane against the vehicle before he can take from his pocket the piece of crumpled paper which has gotten him so far.

Reading David's neatly written instructions with the difficulty that letters still give him, Rumple follows the directions to enter the zoo. His pace is slow, but the heat or even the ever-present fear of the unknown have nothing to do with it. It's the pending farewell that has him wishing he could do anything other than to hand the barbary macaque to someone else, let alone a person stationed on the other side of the world.

"I'm scared, too," he says quietly as they make their way through a staff entrance to the large area of the zoo that's entirely dedicated to primates. "But you'll be better off here. Look how beautiful this zoo is… much better than Storybrooke. You'll have much more space to move around in, and you'll even have a girlfriend. You'll be a father, if all goes well."

Rumple has to remind himself of the breeding program, for he knows very well that he himself won't be better off without the monkey at all. David has gently told him often enough not to get too attached to the animal, but how can he not care so deeply for the monkey he has looked after since it was only an infant, almost as if it actually were the child he never had?

"You must be Mr. Gold!"

Being so very far from the only place he has ever known, it takes Rumple a moment to realize that it is in fact he who is being addressed. Turning around awkwardly to face whoever has spoken, he almost drops the cage when a stunning young woman makes her way straight towards him.

"My name is Belle French."

It only vaguely registers in his mind that she is the zookeeper David talked about, that she'll be the one to look after that which he most cares about in this world from now on. Her uniform is just as unflattering as his, but Rumple can't help but think that even a blind man would sense the beauty and kindness radiating off her.

"And this must be Baelfire!" she adds enthusiastically, squatting down to peer into the cage. "We are so happy you are here. I can't wait to get to know you… and neither can the other monkeys!"

"Yes, this is Baelfire," he says dumbly, not knowing what else to do but state the obvious. "Bae for short."

"It's a wonderful name," she says, standing up again.

"I… I named him myself," Rumple finds himself pathetically adding when her spectacular blue eyes are on him once more.

She extends her hand to him now that she has straightened herself again, beaming at him. Her bright smile makes it yet more difficult to stuff the paper in his pocket and lean his cane against the cage so he has a hand free to shake hers. At least it doesn't give him the chance to worry about the clamminess of his palm, or admire the pleasant firmness of her shake.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Mr. Gold."

"Please, call me Rumple. Everyone does."

"Of course, Rumple," she says without commenting on the nickname, to his relief.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Miss French," he says hastily, to his surprise truly meaning the words he has mentally practiced on his way here. There's nothing left of the pathetic envy he felt earlier for the unknown woman who will for all intents and purposes replace him in the only meaningful tasks he has in life. "Or… Mrs. French."

His gaze flies to her hands, looking for a sign of a ring or anything to indicate her marital status, hoping with all his being that he doesn't have yet one more social blunder to add to his ever growing list. He has made a fool of himself often enough as it is, but never before has it seemed more important to make a good impression. It's just that he didn't expect her to be so young.

"It's Miss French. But please, call me Belle."

"I will… Belle," he replies, hardly able to believe that she's still smiling and looking at him like she's happy that he's there.

"Here, let me take that from you."

She gestures at the cage and the other items he's having trouble balancing now that she has let go of his hand.

" _No_ , I'd…" He tenses, horrified by how sharply he spoke to her. "Apologies, Miss… _Belle_. It's just that I… I prefer to carry him for the time being. For as long… for as long as I can."

"Of course," she says, with understanding that eases his heart.

"Let's… let's see where Bae's new home is, shall we?" he says, making the equally practiced suggestion he has been dreading since the moment David told him that an Australian zoo had a suitable mate for the monkey Rumple has looked after for almost four years now… and that the animal would stay there, considering its better chances in the larger, better funded zoo.

"Yes. Follow me, if you please."

He does, relieved that without his having to ask, she keeps her pace slow enough to allow him to follow her while holding both his cane and the cage.

Now that Belle is with them, Rumple doesn't want to point out the advantages of this park under his breath any longer. Still, he hopes that the monkey sees just how beautiful the habitats around them are, that there are many more other animals than in the zoo where it has spent all its life so far.

"The zoo is very beautiful, Belle," he says, realizing that he should probably say something to her, if only for the sake of politeness. Although he speaks mostly to fill the silence, the compliment is entirely sincere.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you seem to enjoy it as much as I do."

"How long have you worked here for?" he asks, finding it isn't nearly as difficult to voice his genuine interest as he could have predicted.

"A little over five years now," she replies thoughtfully. "I can't believe it's been so long already! Time just flies by and I love every minute of it."

He knows that they have reached their destination when Baelfire shifts in its cage, sensing that animals of the same species are nearby. Its little hands hold on to the bars of the cage, its face pressed against them as it calls out to the monkeys who gather in the lush, natural-looking island in front of them with obvious curiosity.

Rumple is somewhat glad that they have arrived right to the moment he has dreaded in the past few weeks, if only because it gives him a reason not to talk about his own work experience—or rather lack thereof.

"There we are," she says, gesturing at the island. "This is where they can go during daytime. I suggest we go indoors, to their night accommodation. It's smaller and more surveyable; it should be less intimidating for Baelfire."

She looks at him as if for confirmation and he nods in response, glad that she's including him in decisions, although he supposes that the monkey is all but hers now.

At least the inside of the building she leads him into is somewhat like what he is used to at Storybrooke Zoo, if larger, better maintained and with better facilities. Very much aware of the new arrival, a dozen monkeys or so loudly make their way through what appears to be simple but highly efficient grated pipes.

Baelfire watches them with obvious interest through its own temporary cage. It gives Rumple some courage that at least, the animal will go through this transition relatively easily.

"I think it's time for Bae to get out of his cage and meet the others," Belle hints quietly.

"Yes, you're right," he replies, trying but not quite succeeding in keeping sorrow out of his voice as he opens the cage. The monkey leaps into his arms, like it always does, and Rumple feels like his insides are shrinking with the knowledge that this might as well be the last time he gets to hold his best friend like this.

Crooning words of comfort to the animal, he doesn't care anymore what Belle might think of hearing him talking to Baelfire. As if it sensed what's about to happen, the monkey digs its little fingers and toes into his shirt, clinging to him. Despite knowing that it will make goodbyes only more difficult, he can only respond by wrapping his arms around the animal's small body, burying his face in its familiar fur for one more moment.

She doesn't rush him, nor does she comment on his doubtlessly wet and puffy eyes when he takes one last, deep breath before looking up again.

"You can put him in here," she says ever so gently as she gestures at the large space where the other monkeys are watching the proceedings with keen interest.

Rumple nods in understanding, but he's hardly surprised when Baelfire refuses to go through the hatch that Belle opens. Although he tells himself that it'll only get more difficult this way, he is inwardly grateful that the animal is as reluctant to part from him as he is himself.

"It's all right, Bae," he forces himself to say even as tears well in his eyes. "I won't be leaving just yet. As I told you before, I'll stay for a few days to help you get settled and to keep you company."

The monkey doesn't make the slightest move to join the others, only tightening its hold on his shirt instead, burying its little head against his chest. Rumple manages to muster an apologetic smile for Belle, who is still standing near the open hatch.

"It's all right," she says, closing it. "We aren't in a hurry. Just take your time."

He doesn't know whether she's referring to Baelfire or to him, but he relaxes slightly, cradling the monkey protectively against his chest like he has done so often in the past.

"He's very fond of you," she says kindly while she approaches them.

"He is," Rumple replies, his voice breaking before he might tell her that he loves the animal like it were an actual child of his.

He buries his face in the monkey's familiar fur to hide his tears, only realizing that she has come to stand right next to them when she speaks again, her voice nearer than he expected.

"Can I touch him, too? If you are fine with that?"

Rumple nods again, if only because it might distract her from his current state and he senses that she'll respect any potential sign that Baelfire doesn't want to be touched that he might not pick up on himself at the moment.

He hardly hears her address the animal in his arms, until Baelfire gradually relaxes and turns towards her. It's a relief, at least, that the monkey seems to like Belle as much as Rumple himself does.

When he has mostly composed himself again, he looks up to find her affectionately petting the animal. Although it's still in his arms, Baelfire is leaning against its new carer, basking in her attention.

Only then does he notice just how very close Belle is to him as well, her chest almost brushing his bicep, as if she didn't care at all that he's old, sweaty and crippled. Being so near her as she pets Baelfire, her voice soothing and gentle and so very, very accepting, Rumple can't help but wonder what it would be like if she were to behave like that with _him_.

"Oh look, there's Emma," she says, reminding him that they are in fact not some strange sort of family, that he's merely here to deliver Baelfire to hopefully succeed in finding the fertile mating partner unavailable in Storybrooke Zoo.

Rumple observes the monkey that finally comes to join the others, keeping its distance but looking straight at Baelfire, as if it _knew_ why the new monkey is there.

"Why don't you go and meet Emma?" Rumple mutters, aware that Baelfire intently stares back at the female monkey. "David said that she hasn't been here all that long either. I think the two of you can get along very well."

This time, Baelfire does go through the hatch when it is opened, ignoring the other monkeys in favor of cautiously making his way straight towards Emma.

"Go make babies," Belle says playfully.

Watching the monkey who has practically been like his own young child walk away from him that way, the tears that Rumple forced back earlier return with a vengeance. No longer having an animal in his arms to hide his face against, he wipes hastily at his eyes, wanting neither Baelfire nor Belle to see how difficult this is for him.

His hope that Belle, at least, is entirely focused on watching the proceedings between the animals vanishes when she looks at him over her shoulder, as if sensing his sadness.

"Rumple, are you all right?!" she exclaims, turning to face him.

"Yes, I'm…" The lie that he is 'fine' remains stuck in his throat. He just can't say it, both because it isn't true and because Belle is looking at him with such compassion. "No, I'm not."

He bows his head, wishing he hadn't thought during the trip that there could be nothing worse than losing Baelfire. It turns out that losing Baelfire _and_ losing control in such a way with one of the few people who don't mock him is yet worse. He likes to think that the kindhearted zookeeper won't make fun of it, but here he is, a grown man _crying_ over an animal and…

"I won't pretend to know exactly what you're going through, Rumple. I've never experienced anything like this myself, not yet anyway, but I can somewhat imagine what it must be like for you to…"

Rather than giving him the same vague promise of things doubtlessly turning out for the best as David, Belle steps towards him once more and spreads her arms questioningly.

He nods desperately to the unspoken invitation, unable to hold back a sob when she embraces him and guides his head to her shoulder. There, her welcoming arms cradling him almost protectively against her, there's no holding back even a little of the sorrow that has been building up inside of him since the moment David carefully told him that Baelfire was going to have to leave.

"I don't know what to do without him…" he mutters in the damp and warm darkness of the curve of her neck and shoulder, finally saying out loud what he hasn't dared to fully acknowledge so far. "I don't know how to _live_ without him."

Belle continues to hold him, only tightening her hold on him once he has spoken the truth he has been increasingly embarrassed about. Her hands move over his back in comforting strokes, but it only makes him cry harder. Her acceptance and understanding is unlike anything he experienced before and he has no idea how to react to it, other than giving in to intuition.

That's how Rumple ends up wrapping his arms around her, clinging to her as sobs wreck his body. Hoping that she might _understand,_ he haltingly tells her about his previous life as a janitor at Storybrooke Zoo—a lonely, _useless_ janitor—until zookeeper David Nolan asked him to help look after the young, neglected barbary macaque who had been seized by airport customs.

The younger man figured that the crippled, equally alone janitor would be able to relate to the newest arrival at the zoo in a way that none of the regular keepers could. Baelfire thrived under this arrangement, and Rumple himself yet more so. Soon, they were inseparable; Baelfire became a healthy, playful animal and Rumple found a purpose and joy he couldn't have dreamed of before.

"You'll find a way… both of you," Belle says as she continues to hold him, "I know you will."

He makes a sound of agreement, her words inspiring a courage and hope as unexpected as the positive changes Baelfire initiated in his life. Her embrace adds to that as well, as it both exhilarates and soothes him that she's yet closer to him than she was before.

His face practically buried against her neck and her hair on that side of her face, he can even smell her. She smells… well, like he does himself on a good day, of straw and dung and monkey. But beneath that lovely familiarity there's something enchanting and utterly intoxicating, something he presumes to be all her.

As if experiencing that wasn't mesmerizing and impossible enough yet, he can't help but notice that she's warm and safe and soft, providing the same sort of security that Baelfire does. But unlike the beloved monkey, she can wrap her arms around him and whisper comforting words in his ear, her hands stroking his back reassuringly as if she didn't mind at all that he's hardly more than a lost stranger.

Rumple only realizes that he must have stopped crying quite some time ago when he finds himself enjoying her generous nearness much more than he should, savoring it for reasons that have little to do with being comforted.

Horrified to find himself thinking of how much easier life without Baelfire would be if Belle could hold him like this every once in a while, Rumple carefully but insistently steps out of her embrace. Rather than intuitively, his gaze seeks out the monkeys in order to temporarily escape the guilt of having enjoyed her embrace in a way she didn't mean for him to.

To his surprise, Baelfire and Emma are sitting together, tentatively reaching out for each other as they seem to get to know each other much more easily than he would ever have thought. The male monkey's attention is entirely focused on his potential mate rather than on its previous keeper. With Belle's warmth lingering in his own body, Rumple's relief isn't tainted with sadness that Baelfire appears to have forgotten about him altogether, if only temporarily.

"It looks like Bae will be quite fine here without us for the time being," she says happily, placing her hand on his arm as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Looking from the monkeys to her hand as it lies on his arm, then back up to her face at last, Rumple finds her smiling gently at him, seemingly neither to be disgusted by his red eyes and the tears drying on his cheeks, nor to object to touching him when he isn't thoroughly upset.

"Would you like me to give you a tour around the park?" she asks with an enthusiasm that makes it undeniable that she would enjoy doing so.

"I'd like that," he replies, smiling at her a little.

"And afterwards, maybe we can… spend some time together?"

"I'd like that very much as well," he shyly replies, heat of a wonderful kind blossoming within him.

Before he arrived at Baelfire's new home, he was convinced that he would lose all his newfound purpose and joy as soon as he had handed over the animal to its new carer. But now that he has met Belle, there might be other, very different things for him to live for.


End file.
